Grace Hui for INCENTRE
Past relationships, unresolved conflicts, old grief, traumas and the kinds of connections that ended physically but never energetically been quite let go by us are examples of situations where cord cutting can help us to move forward. Over time, unresolved ties can weigh on your energy field in ways that are hard to name but easy to feel: a persistent heaviness, recurring thoughts about someone, a sense of being stuck despite your best efforts to move forward and a feeling that your energy is not quite yours or that your energy is being drained are some symptoms where cord cutting can serve
A cord cutting ritual in the mystery school traditions is a highly sacred ceremonial practice rooted in ancient lineage that is carefully preserved and passed down from teacher to student in an unbroken and unchanged way. It works with the understanding that while our relationships leave energetic imprints, and that some of those imprints, particularly the ones formed through pain, dependence, or unresolved emotion, can continue to drain your energy long after the relationship itself has changed or ended, we have the power to change and heal from this in a way that allows us to grow and progress.
What Is a Cord Cutting Ritual?
At its core, a cord cutting ritual is a practice of intentional release facilitated by a lineage based ritual performed by a highly trained ritual master. The concept is grounded in the understanding that human beings form energetic cords through their relationships and shared experiences. These invisible threads connect your energy field to another person's, and while some carry warmth and reciprocity, others become a source of quiet depletion over time.
Cutting the cord does not mean cutting the person out of your life. It means releasing the unhealthy energetic attachment between you, the part of the connection that was built on negative emotions, unspoken needs, or patterns that no longer serve either of you. What remains after a properly performed cord cutting ceremony is clarity, and often a surprising sense of lightness.
The practice appears across many spiritual traditions and is sometimes approached as part of a broader energy cleansing process. At INCENTRE, it is rooted in the Hermetic Mystery School lineage, a tradition that has been handed down through an unbroken chain of teachers and students for thousands of years.
What Are Energetic Cords?
Energetic cords form naturally through our interactions with others. Any relationship that carries emotional intensity, whether that is love, conflict, grief, or long-term closeness, tends to create an energetic tie between the two people involved. Traumatic and difficult situations can also leave an energetic resonance that can continue to affect or influence us if not released. These energy cords can attach at the chakras, particularly around the heart and sacral centre, and they carry an ongoing exchange of energy between two people or with situations that can cloud our judgement and clarity. Cutting the cord allows our energy to return to us so that we can live authentically.
Not all energy cords need cutting. The healthy ones pulse with reciprocal energy and genuine care. The ones that become a problem are those that:
formed through toxic relationships, abusive relationships, or deeply painful experiences
connect you to a previous relationship that ended without resolution
keep you energetically tethered to a toxic person whose influence still affects your mood, your decisions, or your sense of self
were built on unhealthy habits or patterns of emotional dependence rather than genuine mutual care
no longer serve your personal growth or emotional well-being
When energetic ties like these remain active in your field, they can interfere with your ability to move forward, to think clearly, and to show up fully in your present life. It is important to remember that a cord cut performed by a trained and certified ritual master using lineage based tools, will only sever the cords that are negative. Everyone also has free will and as such, will be free to reform the cord even after if it has been cut, should they so wish. A cord cutting will never remove your free will.
What Is the Purpose of Cutting Energetic Cords?
The purpose of energetic cord cutting is not punishment or severance. It is release. Specifically, it is the release of negative energy, negative emotions, and emotional ties that have become a drain rather than a source of nourishment.
Many people come to a cord cutting ceremony at a point of transition, after a breakup, after leaving a job or community, after recognising that a particular friendship or family dynamic has run its course. Others come because they have tried everything else and still find themselves constantly thinking about a specific person or situation, still feeling the pull of an old connection they consciously want to be free of.
The cord cutting ritual creates space for something new. By releasing what no longer serves, you reclaim your own energy and return your focus to your own life, your own growth, and your own future.
It is also worth noting that cord cutting is not always about a person. Energetic cords can form through traumatic experiences, significant places, or long-held patterns of thought and behaviour. The ritual is equally valid as a way of cutting ties with any attachment that has become a negative force in your life.
Signs You May Need a Cord Cutting Ritual
Some people know instinctively when they need this practice. Others recognise it through a pattern of experiences that have built up over time.
Common signs include:
Recurring or obsessive thoughts about a specific person, even someone you haven't seen in years
Feeling emotionally drained after any contact with a particular person
Difficulty moving forward from a previous relationship despite genuinely wanting to
Absorbing the negative emotions or moods of others without meaning to
Low or unstable energy with no clear physical cause
A sense of being stuck in old patterns or unhealthy habits
Feeling as though someone still has a hold on you, even from a distance
These experiences are not signs of weakness. They are signs that an energetic attachment is still active in your field and that the internal process of release has not yet completed on its own.
How to Do a Cord Cutting Ritual Properly
While there is a lot of information out there on what and how to perform a cord cut yourself, it is always advisable to go to a properly certified healer or ritual master whose practice is based on a lineage that has shown results through the ages. Everyone should exercise their discernment on this. Following the mystery school tradition, this ceremony will be performed in a unchanged and pure way that has been practiced through the ages in integrity and safety.
Setting Your Intention
Every cord cutting ritual begins with intention. Before anything else, you need to be clear about what you are releasing and why. This is not about anger or blame. The intention behind cutting the cord should be one of peace, clarity, and self care, not retaliation.
Take a few deep breaths, settle into your body, and bring your full attention to the connection you wish to release. Name it clearly, either silently or aloud and let the practitioner know when you are ready. He or she will guide you and you can relax and feel safe to relax.
At INCENTRE, all of our sessions are performed in a private space that is gridded and protected to maintain the highest vibration and flow.
Aftercare
After a cord cut, it would be helpful to ensure that you are well hydrated. Drinks lots of water or herbal tea and juices. Avoid lots of caffeine or alcohol if possible. A salt bath after the ceremony will also be beneficial as it is a grounding and effective way to complete the energy cleansing process. Salt has long been used across spiritual traditions to purify the body and seal the energy field after deep energetic work.
It is also important to just allow the process and not over think. Journalling might also be helpful. If needed, a follow up with your practitioner can also help. Please stay in touch so that he or she can guide you along the process of healing and growing.
Self-Practice vs. a Practitioner-Led Cord Cutting Ceremony
While a self-guided cord cutting ritual can be a meaningful and valid practice, particularly for releases that feel relatively straightforward or for maintaining energetic clarity between professional sessions, a practitioner-led cord cutting ceremony will reach a depth that self-practice rarely does. Where a self-guided ritual works at the surface of the energy field, a trained practitioner works directly within it, with the tools, the lineage, and the precision to reach the layers where emotional ties are most deeply embedded. This is particularly relevant for:
attachments connected to abusive relationships or significant trauma
energetic cords that have been active for many years
twin flame connections or deeply intense bonds that have proven difficult to release through self-practice alone
patterns that keep repeating across multiple relationships
At INCENTRE, the cord cutting ceremony is rooted in the Hermetic Mystery School lineage and performed with an athame or purbha, a sacred tool used to cut the energetic cords directly. The release is then sealed with white sage, holy water, and sacred mantras, and the session concludes with a personal consultation to support the integration process.
Many clients report feeling lighter immediately after the session, with greater clarity, more stable energy, and a sense that something which had been weighing on them has genuinely lifted.
After the Cord Cutting Ritual
To support this process:
Take a salt bath on the evening of your session
Spend time in quiet reflection or light journalling
Focus on self-care and gentle, nourishing activity
Stay grounded in your body through rest, movement, or time in nature
Return to your intention if old thoughts surface, and remind yourself of what you have chosen to release
Some attachments, particularly long-standing ones, may benefit from more than one session. Each time you return to the practice, you release another layer and reclaim more of your own energy. It would be advisable to keep in touch with the practitioner so that they can support you through your healing journey in a safe and pure way.
A Note on Cord Cutting and the Other Person
A question that comes up often is whether cutting energetic cords affects the other person. The short answer is no, not in any harmful or controlling way. A properly performed cord cutting ritual removes only the negative ties between you and does not interfere with another person's free will, their thoughts, or their life.
Any change you notice in the other person afterwards is more likely connected to the shift in your own behaviour and energy. When you stop feeding a connection with attention and emotional investment, the dynamic changes naturally. That is not the ritual affecting them. That is you, choosing differently.
Moving Forward
A cord cutting ritual is not a one-time fix, nor is it a shortcut around the real work of healing. What it does is create the conditions for that work to happen more freely, by clearing the energetic interference that has been making it harder.
When you break free from the negative energy of old attachments, you don't just feel lighter in the moment. You show up differently in your relationships, your decisions, and your daily life. As the Hermetic principle that underpins this work states: as within, so without. What you clear within your own field begins to reflect outward into the world around you.
If you feel ready to explore this work, INCENTRE offers private cord cutting sessions in London, held within the Hermetic Mystery School lineage and guided by experienced practitioners.
